740.00119 PW/5–2446: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Smith) to the Secretary of State
urgent
[Received May 24—2:03 p.m.]
1643. Personal for Secretary and Matthews eyes only. I am seeking an appointment with Molotov and will take up the matter of Pauley’s visit to Northern Korea on the basis of Deptel 951, May 22. [Page 522] However, there are several considerations in this connection which I should like to bring to your personal attention.
Since our previous request has already been turned down by the FonOff the only chance of putting it over this time will be to make a strong point of the fact that Mr. Pauley’s Mission is representative of the President and Secretary of State who are directly interested in the additional time and personnel now desired by Mr. Pauley. Even at that, the chance of an approval by the FonOff is extremely slight in my opinion, considering the present tense situation in Korea. As Lozovski has already pointed out there is no agreement between our Govts for the dispatch of special economic missions into territories occupied by the military forces of other powers. The present highly suspicious attitude of the Soviet Government will translate the request for additional time and largely augmented personnel into an espionage mission. This is what they would do under similar circumstances if they could and it will be quite impossible for them to believe that we would have a different attitude. They will not take seriously the idea that about 60 of the personnel accompanying Mr. Pauley are for transportation and other services and that only a few members of the party actually will operate. In other words, the chance of a second refusal is almost a certainty in my opinion and since, as stated above, the only possibility of success is to put the request on a Presidential or Secretarial level I suggest that you consider whether it is desirable to invite a refusal on this basis.
Ambassador Pauley has been sending me detailed despatches, I am familiar with and sympathize thoroughly with his position. He is getting the usual runaround. But the fatal error was the request for a small party, which the Russians translated into “5 or 10 people”, for a period of 3 to 5 days. However, I am prepared to make a fight for it and might be able to obtain some increase either in the size of the party or in its length of time if I use the heaviest ammunition we have but I want you to know our own estimate of our chances of success and would be glad to know if you wish me to proceed on this basis. Request advice as a matter of urgency.46
- Secretary Byrnes in telegram 973, May 25, noon, to Moscow, suggested “a new request for Mr. Pauley’s mission to visit Korea for a few days with total personnel of 50. I well realize the probability of a second refusal.” (740.00119–PW/5–2446)↩